Q: How are wearable sensors currently being used in healthcare?

To put this question in perspective, Apple recently reported that wearables were their second strongest revenue driver in the 4th quarter of 2017, and healthcare is at the center of almost wearable initiative Apple is pursuing. There are already products on the market to monitor everything from heart murmurs to changes in text habits indicative of a behavioral health decline. It’s a really exciting time to be working in wearables, because–as Patrick Bertagna said below–wearables have the potential to shift healthcare from being reactive to proactive.

Wearable sensors can play a major role in predicting, preventing or monitoring the progression of an ailment. They can be used to track people with dementia or Alzheimer’s that wander, they can monitor weight, gait and activity which are all indicators of something being wrong if there is a big shift from a baseline number. Example if a senior gains or loses a lot of weight in a short period of time, if their activity level drops off, if their gait changes- all of this could be an indicator of, early onset of cognitive decline, a stroke, at risk of falling, adverse effect from new medication, onset of diabetes. Monitoring these biometric readings in real time without having to go to a doctors office, changes healthcare from being reactive to proactive.